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Charles Schumer: The Iran Deal and the Banality of Evil

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Diane Weber Bederman
Diane Weber Bederman is a multi-faith, hospital trained chaplain who lives in Ontario, Canada, just outside Toronto; She has a
… [More]background in science and the humanities and writes about religion in the public square and mental illness on her blog: The Middle Ground:The Agora of the 21st Century. She is a regular contributor to Convivium: Faith in our Community.
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There has been an attempt by the left, the self-designated defenders of social justice, to guilt you into believing that you cannot be loyal to America and loyal to Israel. That what is good for America is not necessarily good for Israel and vice versa. Charles Schumer, who refers to himself as shomer Israel-guardian of Israel,has posited this question. It is a thinly veiled attempt to justify backing of the Iran Deal, as if this deal were good for America. It is nothing short of demonstrating the banality of evil. If he agrees to this deal for fear of appearing disloyal to Israel then he is abdicating his role as a leader in order to walk lock-step with the Democratic Platform; a platform that declares itself the promoters of social justice and prophetic law. Progressive.

Jewish Americans, your ancestors were the ones who brought forth the very foundation of western culture, what came to be known as the Judeo/Christian ethic, out of the desert and into the light. A revolutionary ethic that made extraordinary demands on all people in the hope of reinventing society, making it more compassionate and caring of others. An ethic that makes us turn away from tribalism and its innate blood lust. This is the gift of your forefathers and mothers.

That gift is now being practiced back home in Israel where it all began, 3500 years ago. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. The only country in the Middle East and North Africa that shares your ethic: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That all life is sacred and we all have equal intrinsic value.

Why should there be any conflict within you? To be loyal to America is to defend all democracies and Israel was the first so long ago. Irish author Thomas Cahill wrote about our ancestors in his book “The Gifts of the Jews” He referred to us as a tiny marginal desert tribe who changed the worldview of Western civilization: our present civilization, which is under attack from countries in the Middle East and North Africa, who practice virulent tribalism; who call for the end of the West. It is the Jewish people who gave us social justice and prophetic law, our court and judicial systems. Yet you are afraid to defend Israel for fear of disloyalty? To whom?

Khamenei and his minions continue to call for “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” They mean “Death to the West.” They know that Israel and America are tied at the hip. But you, my American Jewish friends, don’t seem to know that. And if you do, you appear to be ashamed of that connection. Why else would you vote for the Iran Deal? A deal with side agreements that your leaders hid from you? A deal that was positions as an either/or as if there were no middle ground.

While the world is burning from Islamic terrorism, Christians being raped and murdered wantonly, it is the Jews, Am Yisrael that is under constant attack. If you abandon our people, now, how will you explain it to your children and grandchildren? We are still living with the abandonment of European Jewry by the American Jewish community more than 80 years ago. They didn’t want to rock the boat; appear disloyal. Rock it! It is time for you to stand up for what is right or you too will be participating in the banality of evil, the choice of cowards.

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